After death, it is traditional to place the dead body or corpse into a container. Containers into which bodies are placed take several different forms, and serve several different functions. Often, a flexible, plastic, zipper-containing bag, known as a body bag, is employed to transport a dead body from the place at which a person died, to a body holding or preparation area, such as a morgue or funeral home.
Once at the funeral home or morgue, a body is often placed on a gurney for purposes of performing an autopsy, or for embalming the body. After the autopsy or embalming (or both) is complete, the body is then usually placed in another container. In a large number of cases, the other container into which, the body is placed is a “permanent” casket or coffin, that is suitable not only for holding the body but also for placement into the ground or into a crypt or niche if the body is buried above ground.
Caskets and coffins have been used since at least the time of the ancient Egyptians. To be precise, a coffin and a casket both comprise funerary boxes, although the terms refer to different items in current understanding. A coffin usually refers to a six-sided funerary box whereas a casket refers to a four-sided funerary box. In this application, the term will, be used interchangeably to refer broadly to a funerary box intended to contain a body. Unless otherwise clearly indicated, statements that refer to caskets will also be applicable to coffins.
Current caskets and coffins are made from a variety of different materials, such as wood, metal, and fiberboard. Typically, such permanent caskets have sufficient structural integrity to maintain their rigidity and not bend or collapse when the weight of a body is placed in the casket, and the casket is being transported.
Handles are usually provided on the side of a casket to facilitate the carrying of the casket. These handles are usually secured to the casket by fasteners such as bolts, and the like. Since most permanent caskets are made from a relatively heavy gauge steel, or wood material, most caskets have sufficient structural integrity so that the pall bears can grab the handles, and lift the casket off the bier or hearse deck, and transport the casket by carrying it to a grave or other appropriate place. Because of this structural rigidity, the casket will maintain its generally rectangular, cuboid, box-like shape during such a process, and will not collapse or bend or sag in a manner in which one might expect a less sturdy container to bend or fold when a heavy weight, such as a body, is placed therein.
In addition to the permanent type caskets described above, there is growing use of “temporary” or short-term use caskets, and that are also generally known throughout the industry as “cremation caskets”. Cremation involves the placement of a body in an industrial furnace called a cremator, that includes a chamber, called a retort, in which the body is placed for burning. In the retort, the body is burned until the body is reduced to a “powder-like” ash material known as “cremains” that comprise mineral fragments. Since the body is reduced to a few pounds of cremains, there is no need for a permanent casket having sufficient structure and strength to maintain its integrity when buried in the ground for many centuries. Rather, the remaining ashes usually fit into an “urn” that is often the same size as, or smaller than a one pound coffee can.
Actually, the use of a permanent type casket in a cremation setting is counter productive for two primary reasons. The first reason relates to costs. Because of their structural, integrity and decorative aspects, permanent caskets are usually quite expensive. At the time of this writing, the “retail” prices of permanent caskets typically vary from between about $700,00 to $ 15,000.00. It is quite a waste of material and money to employ a $15,000.00 casket for only a four hour viewing, and an hour long church service and then to discard the casket within a retort, where the casket will be effectively destroyed and burned. Reuse of such permanent caskets is also not an option, since reuse of a permanent casket is forbidden unless the interior is completely replaced.
A second drawback with the use of a permanent casket in a cremation process relates to the increased difficulty of burning a permanent casket when compared to the time and energy required to burn only a body. Even though a wood casket will burn quite well, the time required to burn a body in a wood casket to its appropriate “cremains” will often require significantly greater amount of time, and hence, entail a significantly greater amount of costs in fuel materials, such as gas, than a cremation where only a body is burned. A metal casket will likely require an even longer time to be burned completely.
Because of these drawbacks encountered with the use of “permanent caskets”, many bodies that are destined for cremation are contained within a “cremation casket”. Currently, several types of cremation caskets exist. One factor that governs the particular type of casket used is the cost that the relatives of the deceased are willing or capable of paying for the service and cremation.
A second factor that affects the type of cremation casket employed is whether the cremation casket is going to require decorative aspects. A third factor relates to body weight of the deceased as some cremation caskets must be reinforced in order to properly hold and contain larger bodies of a certain weight or size.
A fourth factor that may affect the choice of a cremation casket relates to transportation. Often, a person will die at a place far removed from the place at which the body is ultimately to be buried. Planes are often employed to transport the body back to the place of burial. To ensure that the integrity of the container is maintained during flights and that the body does not fall out of its container, transporters and shippers often set minimum standards of structural rigidity and integrity that must be met before the transportation carrier will accept the body for transport.
Probably the most simple, and least expensive cremation casket comprises a casket-sized corrugated box. The cremation casket box will typically be constructed similarly to a corrupted box that, is employed to hold a case of copier paper. That is, the box will be a two-piece box, having a base portion that is generally rectangularly cuboid, and an open top; and may have a depth of, for example, about 12 inches. A separable tray-shaped lid having an upper surface and downwardly extending side flanges will have a length and width slightly larger than the base portion of the box, so that the lid can fit over the base portion to cover the open top of the box and so that the downwardly extending flanges of the lid engage the upper portions of the outer side surfaces of the lower base of the box.
A variation of this cardboard box is what might be termed a “viewing cremation casket”. At its simplest, a viewing cremation casket is similar to the simple corrugated box disclosed above. However, the viewing cremation casket may include a decorative interior comprising fabric members, pillows and a mattress that are coupled to the interior surface of the box, so that the interior of the cremation casket maintains air appearance similar to that one might expect from a traditional, permanent casket. Additionally, the viewing cremation box/casket may include a “riser” that comprises a secondary bottom member. The height and angle of the secondary bottom can change the angle and height of the body placed thereon relative to the primary bottom, in much the same way that the riser shelf of a permanent casket can adjust the position of a body relative to the bottom member of a traditional casket. By employing a riser, the body can be angled upwardly from the waist in a rested position, so that a body resting within the “viewing cremation box” will have an appearance similar to that one might have if the body were placed in a traditional permanent casket.
The “viewing cremation casket” may be used alone by placing some sort of decorative material or indicia on the exterior surface of the viewing box. Alternately, the viewing cremation casket may be placed within a “rental casket” also known as a re-useable casket. A rental casket is a hybrid-type casket, that generally includes a decorative and structural wall containing outer shell. The outer shell has die structural strength and integrity of a permanent casket, along with the decorative attributes of a permanent casket so that the rental casket has an appearance and transportation functionality of a permanent casket. However, the rental casket also has an undecorated interior that is designed to receive a removable liner, such as the viewing casket box.
Rental caskets are often employed when the family wishes to have a viewing or church service for a deceased soon-to-be-cremated person prior to the actual cremation. Rather than spending the several thousand dollars for a full permanent casket, one can often use the rental casket, by placing a viewing box type cremation casket within the interior of the rental casket. After the viewing and/or services, but prior to cremation, the viewing cremation casket is removed from the rental casket shell, and the cremation casket transported to the crematorium. At the crematory, the viewing type rental casket and body are inserted into the retort, and burned along with the body. The re-useable casket shell can then be fitted with another viewing cremation casket and used for another person.
Another type of cremation casket can be constructed similarly either the viewing casket or the “plain box” cremation casket described above, but includes reinforcement. Often, an inexpensive wood, particle board or plywood member, having dimensions that are sized to permit the reinforcing member to be placed on the bottom interior surface of the cremation box are employed. These reinforcing boards help to reinforce the bottom of the cremation casket, to give it additional strength and rigidity to make it better able to hold the weight of a body, without bending, folding or collapsing. Such reinforcing boards are especially useful and can be necessary in oversized or barriatric caskets that are employed for holding larger individuals.
Since the reinforcing board is disposed interiorly of the casket, and below the drapery and cloth interior of a viewing casket, it is usually not seen by anyone other than the funeral director. Since the wood has no decorative purpose, an inexpensive wood or wood by-product, such as Masonite or particle board can be employed, as there is no need to incur the expense of a more highly decorative finer wood, such as a pine, cherry, oak, teak, walnut or maple.
A fourth, type of cremation casket comprises a “hard board” cremation casket that is constructed from wood, particle board, Masonite or some other material having similar strength, and rigidity properties. A hard board casket is heavier and more durable than a cardboard container, and as such, is more expensive. However, in situations where durability is necessary, such as for bodies that are being transported by airplane or other vehicle to a distant location, the added cost is well justified, as the additional durability is necessary.
These hard board containers are different than traditional, permanent caskets, as they usually have no decorative features. Because they do not have any decorative attributes, these containers can be made reasonably inexpensively and cost-effectively by using a cheaper burnable material, such as particle board, Masonite or plywood, rather than a more expensive furniture-grade wood, of the type typically used in permanent caskets. The use of metal should be avoided, because metal is more difficult to burn than a more burnable material such as wood. A variation of this transport casket is a cardboard casket that is mated to a wooden tray member that underlays the cardboard box, and facilitates carrying and transportation of the casket.
Although the discussion above has largely been directed toward caskets and cremation caskets used in connection with deceased humans, the same basic parameters apply to caskets that are used for deceased animals. Although not all animals are placed in a casket, there is a growing trend among pet owners to have their pets cremated, with the cremains returned to the owner for burial, disposal or repose in the family abode. In such cases, a cremation casket is often employed to serve as a “carrier” for the deceased animal, so that the animal can be transported from the place at which it died to the crematorium. Cremation caskets are also employed to hold the body of the animal when the body is placed in the retort.
One of the difficulties associated with cremation caskets springs from the costs of shipping the caskets from the manufacturer to the funeral home, and storing the caskets at the funeral home or distribution center. Generally, shipping costs are determined by the weight and size (the cubic volume) of the item shipped. The cost of shipping a cremation casket is not impacted significantly by its weight, since a cremation casket, having typical dimensions of 76″ in length, 12″ in depth, and 24″ in width may only weigh 10 to 30 pounds or so. However, the size of the cremation casket will exert a significant impact on its shipping costs, since the hypothetical typical casket has a volume of approximately 12.67 cubic feet.
As cremation, caskets are relatively low cost, high volume items, the cost of shipping a cremation casket from the manufacturer to a distantly located customer can comprise a relatively large percentage of the total cost that the user pays for the cremation casket. Viewed another way, the cost of shipping a cremation casket is often high enough so that a cremation casket manufacturer who is located far away from the end user is often at a significant competitive disadvantage to a more closely located casket manufacturer.
This competitive disadvantage is often great enough so that the distantly located manufacturer cannot compete effectively with a casket manufacturer who is located closer to the end user. Although such cost disadvantages can be overcome to some extent through the use of multiple geographically dispersed manufacturing plants and distribution facilities, these multiple manufacturing-plants can add their own costs and inefficiencies that can economically disadvantage the distantly located manufacturer in a different way.
One way to overcome some of these cost disadvantages is to provide a cremation casket that is moveable and configurable between a relatively compressed “shipping” configuration, and a relatively enlarged “use” configuration. In the use position, the cremation, casket must have a sufficient volume and size to accommodate the body of the deceased. By placing such a casket in its relatively compressed shipping configuration, the volume occupied by the casket can be reduced. If the volume of the casket is reduced, more caskets can be placed in a similarly volumed transport vehicle, when compared to caskets that are placed in the enlarged or use position.
A compressed shipping configuration enables the manufacturer and shipper to place more caskets on a single truck, without adding any significant costs to the trucker for driving the truck between the manufacturer and the user. Ultimately, this results in lowering the impact of shipping cost on the casket price. This lower shipping cost can help to reduce the cost disadvantage that a distant manufacturer might have over a more localized manufacturer and thereby increase the effective size of the market area that a particular manufacturer can serve at competitive prices.
Today, such cremation caskets exist that can be moved between a compressed shipping position, and an enlarged use position. One such casket, is known as the Norwood Rental Casket that is manufactured by York Caskets. Although the Norwood Rental Casket does perform its function in a workmanlike manner, room for improvement exists. In particular, one of the difficulties faced with die use of such a “convertible” cremation casket is that a significant amount of time, effort and energy are required to move or re-configure the cremation casket between its compressed or shipping position, and its expanded or use position.
There has been some resistance to the use of currently known convertible cremation caskets because of the time that is required of the funeral director to make this re-configuration. Another issue that must be faced by the manufacturer of a convertible cremation casket is structural rigidity and integrity, and the ability of the casket to maintain itself within the expanded or use position when so configured in the expanded or use position. The cremation casket is a load bearing device, and will likely be transported after a body is placed in the casket and the casket is placed in its use position. Therefore, the casket must have sufficient structural integrity to enable the funeral director to move the body-containing cremation casket even when the casket is in its expanded or use position without the casket suffering a structural failure.
A third issue that must be addressed is the appearance of the casket when in the use position. As discussed above, cremation caskets are often used as “viewing caskets” that are placed interiorly within a shell “rental casket”. As rental casket inserts are often used for viewings, rental casket inserts must be designed to accept the various casket lining materials that are placed in the cremation casket, to give it the appearance of a real or permanent casket. Additionally, the walls of the cremation casket should have a solid appearance, so that, when draped with material, the walls do not appear to be weak or bendable as opposed to the solid and rigid appearance interior of a permanent casket.
One object of the present invention is to provide a casket that is moveable between a compressed, shipping configuration, and an enlarged, use configuration, and that will maintain both structural integrity and aesthetically pleasing characteristics when in the expanded or use position.